


Center Ring

by EK (ilyat)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Circus, F/F, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2012-06-14
Packaged: 2017-11-07 17:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/433486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyat/pseuds/EK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turning back to Nepeta, her smile softened again as she watched her partner stalk a slow, predatory circle around her. And then both of them were moving in a dance that needed no choreography, the give and take between hunter and hunter so natural and so intimate that it was no wonder they had quickly become a main attraction for the traveling circus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Center Ring

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written as part of the HSO bonus round, but then I went back and realized that I had misread the prompt and wrote a wrong character into it. Woops! I'm still curiously in favor of the pairing.

" _And now, ladies aaaaaaaand gentlemen, the moment you have been waiting for! I give you Madame Lalonde and the ferocious Mademoiselle Leijon!_ "

The ringmaster's strong voice boomed out across the audience to the furthest corners of the tent, naturally amplified by precise placement of rings and risers alike. Rose felt that tightening in her chest that she always got just before stepping out in center; it was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, and no matter how often she practiced, how many shows they performed, it never quite went away. She had long ago decided that that was a _good_ thing.

With a thin smile, she glanced back at her partner. Sinewy and tall, Nepeta stood a good head higher than her even barefoot, and with the gilded robe falling loosely around her she positively _glowed_ amid the shifting lights. Nepeta smiled back and mouthed the words, _I'm right behind you_ , and neither of them needed to know how to read lips when Rose's face softened with a silent, _I know_.

Rose turned smartly on her heel and strode out to the center ring. Her chin held high, her steps confident, she _commanded_ the attention of every living soul seated within the tent. Nepeta, she knew, trailed behind, soft and sleek and organic compared to her own fluid precision. They stopped within its center, stood side by side, black and gold, dark and light. The roar of the crowd grew until it was deafening.

She waited until it started to wane in a natural pause, then raised one gloved hand. On cue, the band started with the score, soft and low, strings layered under flute. A snap of her hands and Rose brought her needles to bare, pale violet light crackling around them in rippling torrents. So many of her would-be admirers thought that such displays during her act were merely the mark of a parlor magician; it made her smile to know that she could summon terrors untold to slaughter every single person in the tent with but a slight twist of the wrist and none would be the wiser.

Turning back to Nepeta, her smile softened again as she watched her partner stalk a slow, predatory circle around her. And then both of them were moving in a dance that needed no choreography, the give and take between hunter and hunter so natural and so intimate that it was no wonder they had quickly become a main attraction for the traveling circus.

Rose stood still and watched. She always liked this part. She always liked the way that every member of the audience fell silent, the hush palpable as they focused their gaze on Nepeta and Nepeta alone. She always liked the way that it was her eyes that her partner found as the robe slipped off of her shoulders and puddled onto the ground by her feet in a pool of rippling gold. And, beneath, she was also covered in gold, flecks of black forming rosettes down her back and legs and arms, the paint startlingly realistic. The music peaked and dropped and peaked again, and both performers paused just a heartbeat longer than needed before breaking their shared gaze and moving again.

With a flick of one hand, Rose cracked her needle out to the side, the violet light snapping along it and away as if it were a bull whip. Sparks flared into life with the report, and suddenly the large hoops placed at varying places around the ring burst into flame. Nepeta stood still, poised on the balls of her feet. Another heartbeat, and Rose flicked her hand again, the phantom whip snapping loudly by the lowest ring.

Right on cue, Nepeta leaped forward and _changed_ , her body and limbs lengthening, her skull changing shape, her ribs bursting forward, barrel-like, and suddenly it was no longer gilded paint that covered her but golden fur, the spotted pattern unmistakable as that of a jaguar. Without missing a beat, she continued her forward canter and jumped straight through the first hoop. Even before she cleared it, the audience broke into wild cheers, the shouts and applause rising each time Nepeta leaped through yet another ring.

Rose played her part well, downplaying her movement until she was but a backdrop to the greater display - only to snap to the forefront at just the right moment, violet fire flaring into life with her whip and eldritch flames leaping higher from the hoops. Nepeta was a blur of black and burnished gold, and it was all Rose could do but be entranced by her grace, sinewy muscles rippling beneath her fur and tail trailing behind like a banner. The circus was their livelihood, their act had become their life, but it was in moments like this - the audience transfixed and her own heart captured anew by her matesprit, both completely feral and utterly tame to her and her alone - that Rose felt truly alive.

Moving from raised platform to platform, suspended bar to bar, through flaming hoop after hoop, Nepeta climbed ever higher, shifting to and from her cat form as the obstacles warranted either deft hands or balanced paws. And, with the final stunt, she leaped through a series of rings that were almost completely consumed in flame, twisting midair and _changing_ back to her bipedal form as she turned, and then- oh, one last time, back again to the feline just as the ground rushed up to meet her and she landed on all fours. The audience roared its approval, lights flashing all around in a rainbow of color, the music peaking with a resounding conclusion to the score.

Nepeta veritably danced, her paws hardly touching the ground. Rose stood poised, her arms held out above her and graciously accepting the applause. And then, suddenly, Nepeta leaped up on her hind legs right before her, her massive forepaws coming down almost too heavily on to Rose's shoulders, and the woman's impeccable poise was broken with laughter as that sandpapery tongue rasped across her cheek. "Brat," Rose murmured, her voice swallowed in the roar all around them. But she didn't mind. Let them all watch, let them all see just how lucky she was.


End file.
